


I'll let you set the pace, because I'm not thinking straight

by Samcgrath



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Denial, Draco being a little shit, Draco sees him as a brother, M/M, PWP, Right so Cedric was adopted by Lucius ages ago, Unresolved Sexual Tension, a bit of dirty talk, fair bit of pining i suppose, fucking against a wall, lots of eye fucking, oh and infidelity, pretty much, provoking harry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-28
Updated: 2016-06-17
Packaged: 2018-05-03 16:59:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 21,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5299187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Samcgrath/pseuds/Samcgrath
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Draco returns home after five years to meet the man Cedric is engaged to, he isn't expecting to find Harry Potter sitting across from him at the Malfoy dining table. Harry Potter, whose sole mission in life has somehow become to slowly torture Draco and to undress Draco with his eyes right there at the fucking dining table in front of everyone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The Cedric/Harry relationship is really in the background, nothing in detail is mentioned. But it is infidelity on Harry's part. You've been warned.
> 
> PS - The title is from Ellie Goulding's 'Love me like you do'. As much I like the song, I'd like to point out that even though the music video contains scenes from that film, I absolutely despise the mere name of that book and that film because I do not condone abuse in the name of 'BDSM' or 'Erotica'. This has been a PSA.

When he thought of Cedric finding someone to get married, he imagined meeting some ratty Ravenclaw or even worse, a Hufflepuff. And when he'd ask Cedric why he chose someone so mediocre, he'd hear something like 'Stuart's very nice and kind, he works at a sanctuary looking after endangered animals and in his free time, he writes letters for old people who can't see properly anymore'.  
  
What he didn't expect was Harry bloody Potter sitting across from him at the dinner table, staring at him with the greenest fucking eyes.  
  
"Draco, can you pass me the salt, darling?"  
  
It takes him a moment to look away from those fucking eyes and fetch the salt for mother. Dammit, he'd thought the whole staring each other down thing was over since they're not twelve years old anymore. Apparently not.  
  
"Yes, mother."  
  
When he had decided to come back to England after the self-imposed five year exile, he had expected a few changes. He knew that his parents and Cedric were living their lives and had not in fact, put themselves on hold for him. He was ready to feel a little out-of-place at family dinners and even in the little gatherings Pansy would definitely force him into.  
  
It's just the familiar face sitting opposite him that's throwing him for a loop. In what world does it make sense that Cedric proposed to the Boy Wonder and he accepted?  
  
"Draco, are you unwell? You seem to be preoccupied with something."  
  
_Yes!_  he wants to yell. _Since when is the Boy Who Lived bent? Since when has sweet little Cedric been dating the Saviour? And since when has Lucius Malfoy been okay with Harry bloody Potter being his son-in-law?_  
  
"No, mother, I'm perfectly fine. It's just that international apparition took a lot out of me."   
  
"Oh, I can imagine, dear. But you can take as long as you need to rest."  
  
"Well, I'm supposed to start at St. Mungo's on Monday, so that gives me one full day to rest."  
  
"You musn't exert yourself like this, darling. I say take the next week off, I'm sure they can spare you for another week."  
  
"I'm sure they could but I'd like to get started as soon as possible, mum."  
  
"Draco, you must reconsider your employment. St. Mungo's and this profession is a vile disrespect to--"  
  
"We've talked about this, father. I'm not eleven anymore and you're not questioning Cedric about his choices so I hardly think I deserve this kind of censorship."  
  
That makes everyone tense up like a duel's about to break out any moment. _Well, good to know he's still got it._  
  
"Draco, what your father means is--"  
  
"I know perfectly well what he means, all seven of his owls were sufficiently clear."  
  
"And I stand by all of it, you should be--"  
  
"Lucius, please--"  
  
"Right well, I think I'm going to turn in for the night."  
  
"Draco, wait--"  
  
"Mother, I just need to lie down. Cedric, congratulations. And Harry."  
  
Those eyes are already staring at him and he can't help the shiver than runs down his spine when their eyes meet. Merlin, he really needs to get out of here.  
  
"Welcome to the family!"  
  
***  
  
Draco can still remember the day he had realized that Cedric was adopted and not his brother by blood. It had been a shock and yet, it made sense. Cedric had dark hair unlike mother, father, and Draco. Cedric wasn't pale like all of them, either. He just looked--different.  
  
It had taken him some time to get used to but Draco had never let it show, he had never let Cedric know that he knew. No, he always considered Cedric family, regardless of what some people said. He had had many an argument and a few fights too, with people asking him how it felt to share a house with someone who would take half his inheritance and who wasn't even of the same blood.  
  
It had baffled him sometimes how Lucius Malfoy, obsessed with bloodlines and the Malfoy name, came to adopt someone. But of course, he never asked. He grew up with Cedric, and no matter how much he made fun of him for sorting Hufflepuff and for being soft as a fairy cake, he'd never seen him as anything else but his brother.  
  
And when he'd decided to move to Germany five years ago, Cedric had been the one who convinced father in the end. Countless arguments later, Draco had packed up and left. And Cedric had promised he'd take care of mother and make sure father wouldn't end up ruining them all with another one of his genius ideas. And when he'd gone, he wasn't sure when he'd come back or if he ever would.    
  
Now here he is.    
  
The Mansion has always been home but now it feels like a puzzle piece from the past. He has memories in every nook and cranny of this place: that wall where he had spilled an entire inkpot when father had called him incompetent at flying, that little dent in the door of the study where he and Cedric had fought when he was nine, and that painting hanging in the foyer than mother had bought just because Draco had said he liked the colours. This is his family and his home, so why does he feel so uneasy here?  
  
"Draco! You're up early."  
  
"Yes, I was thinking of swimming a little."  
  
"Harry was just saying the same, we were also headed for the pool. It's beautiful outside."  
  
For some reason, Draco doesn't want to swim anymore, "It is."  
  
Just at that moment, Potter comes out of Cedric's room with only a towel tied around his waist and Merlin, why is Draco being punished like this? Before he can make a hasty escape, Harry looks up from the now wet floor and their eyes meet. And just like that, it feels like they're the only ones in the world. It's some kind of trance, some charm or curse, for sure. This shouldn't happen, it can't be natural.  
  
"Draco?"  
  
With a start, he snatches his eyes away from Harry's. Cedric is looking between the two of them and _Salazar, he's going to know what Draco's been thinking. He's going to find out and he's going to hate Draco--_  
  
"Are you still coming?"  
  
"I uh--yes."  
  
"Well, let's go then."  
  
That's how he ends up shirtless in the pool while Potter stays seated at the edge, and he can feel eyes crawling all over him. Burning through him, making him squirm and breathless. This feeling of being watched would usually make him angry and frustrated, and edgy and yet here he is, struggling to keep a flush from showing up on his _lighter than snow_ skin.  
  
Oblivious to all this, Cedric is floating at the other end of the pool with his arms fanned out on the water.  
  
***  
  
The whole staring thing doesn't get any better as time passes. In fact, he can't be in the same room with Potter without feeling like he's constantly being watched. And every time he looks up, he finds _green green_ eyes piercing through him and how is he supposed to deny and suppress if Harry keeps doing that? How the fuck is he supposed to control this burning urge to just put his hands on that toned body? How long can he resist if Harry won't stop eye-fucking him in a room full of his family?  
  
"Draco, pass the salt, darling."  
  
In yet another impressive display of restraint and incredible strength of will, he pulls his eyes away from the fit bastard sitting across from him and pushes the salt shaker closer to his mother. Why the fuck does Harry bloody Potter always end up sitting across from him at the humongous dinner table? And why does the salt shaker always end up in front of Draco when someone else wants it? The similarity of this situation to one not that long ago doesn't escape his notice, and neither do his frayed nerves calm down. Salazar, he sounds like the elderly witch he had helped just a few hours ago at his overnight shift.  
  
He almost wants to throttle said fit bastard because he can't take much more of this insanity.  
  
"How is that disease ridden hellhole, son?"  
  
_Well, that'll do the trick for now._  
  
"My workplace is fine, father. How's your very upstanding business?"  
  
"Drac--"  
  
"Refrain from talk about work at the dinner table, both of you."  
  
If there is one person who can shut up father, it's mother. And she's over the moon at having Draco where she can see him everyday, so naturally she'll hunt down anyone who could lead to him leaving again. Her own husband included.  
  
With a sharp smile, he raises his wine glass to his father and gets the Malfoy TM glare for his efforts. The smile turns into a smug grin at this childish response from the senior Malfoy, and he shares a conspirational wink with Cedric who just shakes his head like the diplomatic son he is. Said grin freezes on his face when his eyes meet Harry's and there's that hunger there again.

Putting his glass down, he adjusts his collar because _when the fuck did it get so hot in here?_  
  
"Harry, are you feeling better now, dear?"  
  
They both turn to face mother as she looks at her son-in-law to be expectantly. Harry, as usual, looks like someone's just asked him something in a foreign language.

"S-sorry?"  
  
"Cedric said you were feeling unwell, that's why you didn't come back for dinner this week at all."  
  
Well, the Chosen One sure looks like he's been caught stealing sweets. Maybe his apparent sickness wasn't the actual reason Potter didn't show up for dinner. Maybe, it's got something to do with the dwindling self-control they're both struggling with.  
  
"Erm--yes, I was--well, it was nothing worrisome, Mrs. Malfoy."  
  
"Oh I'm glad to hear that, but do call me Narcissa. You are marrying my son, I think we can graduate to given names."  
  
Draco can't explain the surge of irritation he feels in the next second, and it's not a minor distraction that he can just suppress while hiding behind a glass of wine. No, it burns brightly and intensely inside him and makes him want to scratch the table till his nails bleed and isn't that a horribly grim thing to do?   
  
His chair screeches loudly when he abruptly stands up, all heads simultaneously turn toward him with startled expressions. It takes effort but he keeps his eyes fixed on mother's while making his excuses, even when he can feel the heat of that stare that's become as habitual as breathing now.   
  
"Well, rest up, darling. I supposed you've had a rough week."  
  
"It's that place filled with germs and sickness--"  
  
"Lucius!"  
  
"Night, everyone."  
  
He walks away with his back to the table and he intends to leave without a single glance back but he's never been one to have stellar self-control.  
  
Just like he'd imagined, Harry's watching him with sharp eyes and when their gazes meet just as Draco's closing the door between them, he feels static on his skin like the air is crackling with energy.  
  
***  
  
They both know it's going to happen, it's just a matter of when. And when it finally does, he doesn't even get the chance to speak because Harry's pushing him against a wall and kissing him like they're going to die the very next second. They're both panting, hands clenching over clothes and bare skin and mouths hot and wet against each other's.

Merlin, he's never known passion like this. It feels like they're standing in the middle of a burning room with naked flames licking at whatever skin is bare and just like that Draco loses his breath when Harry rips off his shirt and the buttons clatter to the floor.  
  
Next thing he knows, they're manic in their movements and absolutely, completely bare. He can feel Harry's hardness against his own right there in the middle of the fucking drawing room where any one could walk in the next second and find him screwing his almost brother-in-law. _Gods, what is he doing?_  
  
All thought escapes his mind the second Harry's fingers trail down his stomach and wrap around his leaking cock. The bastard is looking at him with those fucking eyes while his grip tightens and brings Draco almost to the edge just before he pulls his hand away and brings it up to Draco's lips.  
  
"Lick", he says in that Auror voice that would make anyone's knees buckle.  
  
When Draco runs his tongue up one thick finger, Harry's eyes flutter shut before he pushes that finger into Draco's mouth rather roughly. Fucking brute.  
  
Dripping with saliva, Harry brings the finger down while he keeps his eyes locked on Draco as if watching for a reaction. Draco doesn't give him one, he can't, he has to win this silent game of willpower and he's doing damn well until he feels the wet finger on his hole and then all bets are off. He's swaying into Harry's grip and the bastard chuckles right before pushing the finger inside Draco.  
  
"Aaarghh!"  
  
He can feel himself loosening around the finger and it's only when he feels a second finger entering that he realizes Harry must've cast a lubrication charm. And wandlessly. Merlin, is there anything this man does that won't make Draco want to fuck him senseless? Speaking of.  
  
Harry's fingers are driving in and out of him with a wet squelching sound and he's almost moving along with those digits when they abruptly leave him feeling empty.  
  
Before he has a chance to protest thought, he feels rough hands gripping around his thighs and pushing his legs up, he only has one option: wrap them around Harry's waist. The second he's got his ankles crossed behind Harry's back, he feels the blunt head of a leaking cock against his hole and he has to bring his arms around Harry's neck to support himself and then they're off.  
  
He knew it wasn't going to be slow and gentle but he wasn't expecting this either. The second he pulls Harry closer with his arms around the man, the cock pushes into his hole and then with one harsh thrust, he's got Harry Potter inside him: thick and pulsing against his own body from the inside. Merlin, he's going to come just from this, just from feeling Harry's heartbeat against his own.  
  
"Move."  
  
He doesn't have to ask again, Harry pulls out till only the head is inside the ring of muscle and then he waits a beat before thrusting in even harder than the first time and Draco almost overbalances and topples them both onto the floor. Harry's hands tighten on his arse as he mumbles a gruff, "Hold on."  
  
The next thrust is slow but a lot more deep as Harry's pushed Draco's back against the wall and the change in angle is making everything more wet and perfect. The rhythm they set is brutal and the noises must be loud and clear to anyone who is paying even a little bit of attention.  
  
The thought of Cedric barging in and finding them like this, fucking like animals actually makes Draco moan even louder. Harry responds in kind to the noise, his hips snapping even faster and his breath is hot against Draco's cheek and he can't help but stare at the door over Harry's shoulder, waiting to see if someone will hear them and come to check.  
  
Merlin, the look on his mother's face if she finds them screwing against her precious French wallpaper will be one of utter shock. And Salazar forbid, if Father came in and saw Draco taking it up the arse from Harry bloody Potter, he would surely lose it and hex them on the spot, still fucking relentlessly.  
  
Another helpless moan escapes his lips before he has time to stop it or think about why thoughts of getting caught by his parents are in any way appropriate to have while getting fucked within an inch of his life.  
  
Harry leans down to lick a strip up his ear but thanks to the manic thrusting and pushing and clenching, he ends up licking Draco's cheek. They both stop for a millisecond before Harry asks in a breathless voice, "Why are you moaning so loudly?"  
  
"Hoping Cedric will hear and come find you fucking me into the wall."  
  
He'd half expected Harry to get angry and stop but instead, he feels the roughest thrust so far and Harry's cock brushes against his prostate and he's in heaven.  
  
"Do you _want_ your boyfriend to find us, Harry?"  
  
All he hears is a loud groan before Harry's fingers spread out over his arse and his nails dig into the flesh.  
  
"Want him to see your cock sliding in and out of me as you hold me up against this wall?"  
  
"Draco", it's more a growl than anything else but Draco can't bring himself to stop. He just can't stop his mouth from moving and all these traitorous thoughts he's kept quiet for so long to come tumbling out.  
  
"Does he know that you undress me with your eyes at every dinner? That you stare at me like you want to fuck me right there on the table in front of everyone?"  
  
Sharp teeth are digging into his shoulder and he cries out in half pain and half pleasure, Merlin, he's never been so well fucked in his life.  
  
"You ever fuck _him_ like this? Like you've been holding yourself back for ages and you just can't anymore?"  
  
"Draco--"  
  
"Come inside me, please. Make me yours."  
  
And he fucking does.  
  
Draco almost shouts at the brutal thrust right against his prostate, his thighs are trembling around Harry as he comes in between them and clenches around Harry's cock. He can feel Harry pulsing inside him, pulsing in tune with jets of hot come filling his hole. They're both breathing harshly as Harry slowly kneels down and sits there with Draco still clutched in his arms.  
  
And Draco can't decide what's more breathtaking: the sight of Harry absolutely flushed and disheveled with Draco's cum sliding down his toned stomach, or the feeling of Harry's cum leaking out of his arse and down his thighs sliding right through Harry's fingers still gripping the trembling flesh of his legs.  
  
He thinks he can die right this moment and he'd still be the most sated and content man in the world.  
  
***


	2. Only you can set my heart on fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, by popular demand, here is the second part of this. This has a bit more feeling/emotional stuff than the first part, hope it fits in.

**A month Ago**

  
"Harry, why are you marrying Cedric?"

  
"He's a nice guy, Hermione. He's kind and he--"

  
"You're marrying him because he's a nice guy?"

  
"I'm just saying. Aren't you always telling me that I should date nice people and not bastards like I usually do."

  
"Date them, yes. Not commit to them for life, Harry."

  
"What's wrong with Cedric?"

  
"Nothing is wrong with Cedric but if you are marrying him just because he is a nice guy, then you are doing something wrong. You can't commit to someone because they are nice. Think about it before you do anything drastic."

  
***

  
**Present Day**

  
"Draco, why do you want to live elsewhere when you can live with us at the Manor?"

  
Ignoring the glare he's undoubtedly receiving from father, he chews through the bite of toast before washing it away with tea. Mother is looking at him worriedly but he really can't keep living like this, being strung out all day and all night wondering if Cedric is going to find out or if he's going to ask Harry to come over and then he and Draco will have to face each other after what they've done.

  
_Fucked like animals against the French papered wall of the Malfoy drawing room, that's what they've done._

  
"I would like to be closer to work, mother."

  
"But it's not that far if you floo or apparate, darling."

  
"I'd like a place of my own, mum."

  
She looks at him for a long second before sipping from her teacup. Draco knows that her mind is working along the lines of 'better London than Germany', and he knows that he's already won.

  
"I suppose that could work as long as you visit regularly."

  
"Of course, I would, mother."

  
Lucius Malfoy lets out a put upon sigh, surely at the prospect of not getting a say in what should happen to his son. Draco sort of wants to ask Cedric to show him the memory of when Lucius learned that Harry Potter was going to be his son-in-law.

  
Except that particular thought leaves him with a bitter taste in his mouth so he gulps cold tea without even tasting it. Mother raises an eyebrow in question but he just smiles at her. After all, this whole thing with Harry bloody Potter is the reason he's leaving the comfort of the Malfoy Manor.

 

Hats off to Harry for ousting him from his own home, without even trying. He always could get under Draco's skin unlike anyone else. 

  
***

  
Three days after the initial discussion, and he's all settled into a cozy little flat in the heart of wizarding London.

  
Cedric had insisted that he and Harry help Draco move in. It took only two trips to bring the furniture and all his personal belongings but Cedric insisted and neither Draco nor Harry could say no to him and that's how Draco and Harry ended up awkwardly avoiding each other's eyes while Cedric flooed to the Mansion to get something he'd fogotten.

  
In the dead silence of the flat, Draco could hear his own heart thundering in his chest. He couldn't bring himself to say anything for a long moment because what do you say to your brother-in-law who you fucked less than a week ago? Whose cock was the best you'd ever had and every single night since then, you dreamt about feeling it inside you again?

  
Apparently, Harry didn't have anything to say to him either. They just stood there, a thick tension surrounding them and making Draco almost choke on it. He couldn't go on like this, he had to say something: "Whatever I said about Cedric that day, I didn't mean it. I was just--not thinking clearly."

  
Harry lifted his face to look straight at Draco and for a second, he felt that familiar trance settling in and numbing his senses but he shook his head and forced himself to look at the Saviour of the wizarding world, look him in the eye and not give into this maddening desire.

  
Harry nodded his head lightly before saying, "I know, I erm--I didn't mean it either." 

  
Then, that heavy silence fell around them again.

Those are the only words they've spoken to each other since that night. There have been plenty of loaded looks, a few times when Draco has found himself staring at Harry and has had to force himself to look away. For some reason, he can't bring himself to stay away from this man.

  
If he'd thought that fucking Harry would somehow cure him of this incessant need to stare at him, to touch him and to have him, he was wrong.

  
Before Draco could say anything else, Cedric had come back and just like that, Harry had moved toward him and forgotten all about Draco. He had tried to not let that sting but it had and that's why Draco forced himself to stop thinking about the mistake he made.

  
That's why he's been focusing solely on his work and hasn't given anything or anyone else a single thought. His colleagues have noticed and keep pestering him about it. On the fourth day of being taunted and teased about his lack of sex, he gives up.

  
"--be able to find someone, you're quite handsome. I bet you're pining after someone, that's why you haven't been coming to the pub with us."

 

"Yeah, I think you go home and mope about this mysterious lover of yours."

  
When he can't stand he ribbing anymore, he sighs and tells them he'll come out tonight. They cheer as if he's promising them hundreds of galleons. He has no plans to give into peer pressure, he's had that experience to last a life-time. What he plans on doing is telling them he's going home to change and never coming back. 

  
In the end, Pansy somehow learns of his plans and convinces them all to go to a club. A gay club, which Draco fails to notice until he's had two drinks in him and a tall dark haired man is making eyes at him. And well, Draco has always been a cheap drunk so he downs another shot and follows the man toward the sea of writhing bodies.

  
He has no idea how he ends up in a dark alley getting his cock sucked, and neither does he notice the photographer clicking away as Draco cums in the stranger's mouth with a strangled cry.

  
All he remembers is Pansy tucking him into bed and murmuring something about him being a lovelorn fool. He has no idea what she means.

  
***

  
"What is this?"

  
Draco reaches up and snatches the newspaper before it hits him in the face. Harry shoves past him and into the flat without even being invited inside. His head is throbbing from the drinking last night, it is too bright in here and Harry Potter is now standing in his flat looking angry. Draco has no idea how all this has happened within two minutes of him waking up. 

  
"Excuse me?"

  
Harry doesn't bother answering, his eyes are fixed on Draco who sighs and opens the paper to the front page to find a blurry and dark photo of himself and someone kneeling in front of him, doing only one thing that's possible at that angle. He looks up to find Harry's face twisted into a scowl.

  
"Why are you doing this? Is it to get back at me?"

  
"What does this have to do with you?"

  
"Doesn't it? Why else would you go out and do this with a random stranger? Why _now_?"

  
"You are terribly conceited if you think--"

  
"Is this because I didn't talk to you that day at St. Mungo's? Ron was there and I was on duty--"

  
"So you pretended like you didn't know me at all? Barely twenty four hours after you had your cock buried up my arse?"

  
He didn't want to say it, didn't want to admit how much it'd bothered him but Harry bloody Potter has always had a way of scratching at his very core. 

  
Just as the words fall out of his mouth, Harry steps closer with an outstretched hand and Draco really can't deal with this again so he steps back without hesitation, "Draco--"

  
"What're you doing here, Potter?"

  
"I just-- _why_ are you doing this?"

  
"Doing what exactly?"

  
"This! Going out and fucking random people, getting obscene photos taken that get printed on the front page--"

  
"I'll ask again, what does any of this have to do with you?" 

  
Harry brings his hands up, twisting them in his hair with frustration writ plainly across his face. Draco feels something wrenching inside him but he doesn't dare repeat the mistakes he made that first time. Instead, he throws the copy of the Prophet on the center table and goes into the kitchen to put the kettle on. There's no way he can go back to sleep now, anyway. 

  
Harry follows him into the little kitchen, his eyes raking across everything scattered around on the shelves and finally settle on Draco. He can tell because there's that familiar heat crawling across his skin, and the hair at the nape of his neck stand up like there's a current passing across his flesh. _Gods, can Harry just leave him be?_

  
"What would you have me do? Kiss you in front of everyone?"

  
"I never asked you to do that."

  
"What are you asking for, then?"

  
"I'm not asking for anything."

  
He turns around to find Harry staring at him with those fucking eyes, and how the fuck is he supposed to stay away when every time their eyes meet there's this incredible rush in the air around them, like every particle of air is pushing them toward each other?

  
_Merlin, he can't!_

  
He turns back around to pull a cup from the top cupboard and a spoon to mix in his sugar. Behind him, he can feel Harry moving and stepping closer.

  
"You are so infuriating!"

  
"Oh, am I?"

  
"Yes, you are. I'm spending my days thinking about you and my nights dreaming of you."

  
Salazar, he can feel Harry moving against his back, he's so close and this is so wrong but all he can do is to stop himself from leaning back into the long line of heat along his back. His hand trembles around the spoonful of sugar he's pouring into the cup, before Harry's cold hand comes up and grips around his own trembling hand and even that little touch is enough to light him on fire.

  
"Harry--"

 

"You feel this, don't you?"

  
Oh Merlin, he feels! He can feel heat crackling between them and the way his own skin feels like it's burning from the inside out. Everywhere he can feel Harry against him, it's like a flame on his flesh, making him burn. And oh, the pain.

  
"I never even knew this was possible, that it could be like this with someone."

  
Harry takes a step closer and just like that he's fit himself around Draco like they're melded together. He can't help the way the breath whooshes out of him at the way Harry's chest molds against his back and his thighs envelope Draco's and the shelf is digging into his stomach and he just can't see clearly anymore.

  
The kettle is whistling but Harry's mouth is panting hot breath across Draco's cheek and the very next second a hot tongue is tracing around his ear. A rough whisper breaks the loud panting rhythm they'd both set up, "I want to fuck you right here."

  
And just like that he gives in, because when Harry's asking him something he doesn't have the power to say no. He simply can't say no to that.

  
"Please."

  
"Are you sure? Wouldn't you rather fuck some stranger's mouth?"

  
The second the words are out of his mouth, Harry rolls his hips and Draco can feel a hard cock between his arse cheeks and a little whimper escapes his mouth before he can stop it. Harry's teeth clasp around the lobe of his ear and he bites down roughly, drawing a loud moan from Draco.

  
"Tell me, Draco. Did you think of me while he was sucking you off? Did you imagine it was me with my lips wrapped around your cock and me choking on your cum?"

  
It's pathetic really, how he has no control over his body when Harry is like this. He mewls like a helpless little kitten as Harry thrusts against him and he feels that cock digging into his arse and the shelf digging into his stomach, it's so much all at once and Draco doesn't know how to respond. 

  
"Tell me."

  
The growl in his already low voice hits Draco low in his gut, he feels heat coiling dangerously in his groin and he ruts helplessly against the kitchen counter just as Harry bites down on his shoulder, all the while pushing his hips upward almost like he's fucking Draco through two layers of clothes.

  
And when he can't even control his body how can he control his mouth, "Yes."

  
"Did you wish it was me on my knees for you?"

  
"Yesss."

  
"Then why did you go to some dark alley with a faceless bastard?"

  
"Because I needed to stop fucking thinking about you all the time!"

  
He feels himself being pulled around, and when he opens his eyes it's to see Harry standing in front him with dark eyes and a clenched jaw. He raises a hand and puts it behind Draco's neck to pull him closer. Their lips are a hair's breadth apart and when he speaks Draco can feel hot air from Harry's mouth hitting his own lips, "Promise me you won't fuck anyone but me. Draco, promise me."

  
A shiver runs down his spine at the possessiveness in his voice. He looks dangerous, like he can kill without even lifting his wand and Draco wonders how he never felt this way about Harry Potter during their Hogwarts years.

  
Still, he's a Malfoy and that means he isn't wired to take orders and follow commands without running his tongue, at least.

  
"Why?"

  
"Because I don't want you to."

  
Harry leans in and presses a chaste kiss against the corner of his jaw, it feels so damn possessive that Draco wants to melt in his hands and that scares the fuck out of him. So of course, he does what he does best: He runs his mouth, "I don't care what you want."

  
A sharp bite on that same spot on his jaw makes him tremble against Harry. Merlin, how did he ever survive without having this? How did he live so long without feeling like this?

  
"Are you sure? Because this tells me otherwise."

  
Thick fingers wrap around his cock and squeeze just this side of painful and he thrusts helplessly into Harry's hand. The bastard pulls his hand away instantly.

  
"Harr--"

  
"Promise me no one else will see you this way, moaning and begging."

  
"I can't jus--"

  
He hasn't even finished saying what he was when he feels Harry's hands around his hips pulling him close, there isn't an inch of space between them and Draco can feel the hard line of Harry's cock against his thigh before he feels the shelf digging into his back and Harry's thrusting his hips so fucking slowly that the drag is torturous so Draco gives him what he wants, "I do, I promise."

  
The second the words are out of his mouth, Harry drops to his knees in front of him and Salazar, this is how he's going to die after surviving a war and a megalomaniac living in his house. Harry sodding Potter is going to kill him with those eyes staring up at him through thick lashes as he parts Draco's bathrobe and leans in to swallow his cock down to the very base in a single try.

  
"Nhhhhhghhh!"

  
He grips the shelf behind him with one hand to support himself and the other finds its way into Harry's hair. The Saviour of the wizarding world is sucking his cock so perfectly that Draco can feel Harry's throat closing around the head of his cock and he won't last long if Harry keeps doing that.

  
"Stop, please. Harry, I'll--"

  
Harry pulls off with shiny red lips and the first thing out of them is, "Was I better than him?"

  
Draco just can't deal with this jealousy right now so he grips Harry's hair even tighter and pulls at them to make him stand up, the git doesn't even wince at the pain. All he does is stare at Draco, waiting for him to speak.

  
And speak he does, "Fuck me on this shelf."

  
No sooner has he said it that Harry pulls off his robe leaving him completely naked in the kitchen while he himself is still fully dressed. There is something heady about the way he is absolutely bared while Harry is wearing his auror robes, so he doesn't even try to undress Harry.

  
Instead, he ends up sitting up on the shelf bare arsed with Harry still in his full auror regalia on and his cock hanging out of his trousers as he lines up with Draco's hole and pushes in. The rough fabric of the auror issue robes is rubbing against his overheated skin with every thrust and Draco feels like his nerves are frayed, like he's oversensitive from head to toe as Harry pounds into him so much force that his arse slips up on the marble shelf.

  
Harry's hands grip Draco's waist to keep him still as he fucks up into him with a curse on every other breath. Merlin, they're fucking on the kitchen shelf where he makes his meals. This is so unhygienic but he can't bring himself to care when Harry's cock is pounding into him, stretching his hole in that perfect mix of pain and pleasure, and dragging inside him so deliciously.

  
"Draco, no one will ever fuck you like this! You hear me? No one."

  
He agrees wholeheartedly, because he would never let anyone else fuck him so filthily. Never.

  
"No one can ever give you want you need, no one can make you beg like I can. With your hole dripping wet and clenching, waiting for my cock to stuff it full."

  
Salazar, he never cared for talking while having sex. And he probably would've stopped mid-thrust if someone else was running their mouth like this while fucking him but with Harry, all these dirty, filthy things just make him mad with need.

  
"Say it, tell me."

  
His own voice is cracking with the effort, tears are probably running down his face at this point: "No one else, Harry."

  
"Have you ever let anyone fuck you against a wall? On a kitchen shelf? Maybe I should fuck you on a street where everyone can see us. Would that make you happy? A photo of me shoving my cock into your hole plastered across every newspaper?"

  
He comes with a loud scream, shooting between them without even touching his cock and that's what Harry does to him. Makes him come untouched, with just his cock and that filthy filthy mouth of his. He's coming down from his high but Harry isn't done yet, his cock is till pounding into Draco's spent hole as his green eyes stare right into Draco's half closed ones.

  
"Draco--"

  
"I think I'm falling for you."

  
He hadn't meant to say it, he wasn't even aware he was thinking it but now it's said and Harry is groaning and coming inside Draco with his mouth falling open and his eyes squeezed shut. They stay like that, uncomfortable and dirty, for a few minutes as they both come down from the mind-numbing pleasure.

  
When Harry pulls out of him and steps away, Draco can't help but bring his knees up to his chest. He feels the need to make himself smaller after what he's said, his hole is still throbbing from the brutal fucking it's just endured and he can feel Harry's cum leaking out of it and down his arse.

  
He must make a picture, he thinks. Naked with his legs pulled up against his chest and covered in cum.

  
Harry looks a contradiction in himself. His hair is a mess from where Draco's fingers had ran through it and pulled it, his auror robes are perfect for the most part except where Draco's cum is a stark contrast against the dark fabric and his limp cock is hanging out of his trousers. The man himself is looking at Draco with wide eyes and his lips are parted as if he wants to say something but can't bring himself to.

  
Draco can't deal with this right now, he just can't. He's exhausted and anxious and spent and filthy. He can't deal with whatever Harry is going to throw at him so he slowly pulls himself off the shelf, wincing at the cold trail of cum down his thighs and even more so at the way his arse protests when he moves.

  
Harry almost darts forward to help him but Draco puts up a hand up to stop him. This ends here, he decides, as he pulls on his discarded bathrobe to cover his oversensitive skin.

  
"You can just ignore what I said, if you want. But, we are not doing this again if you and Cedric are together. I love him and I won't do anything to hurt him. I know I've already done it but it won't happen again. Marry him, because we're done."

  
He walks away without waiting to hear what Harry was about to say. He can hear Harry outside as he lays down on his bed, he can hear him shuffling about before the main door of the flat opens and closes. Draco doesn't move from the bed for the rest of the day.

  
The kettle and the cup with a spoonful of sugar lies forgotten on the shelf.

  
***

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is now definitely the farthest I've gone with explicit/PWP writing. I still think I write awkward smut but I would love to hear otherwise!


	3. Love me like you do..

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shit hits the fan in the Malfoy brothers' lives and Harry's caught somewhere in the middle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so. This was supposed to end in the last chapter but then I got quite a few requests to continue this so I thought I really should. But, there's a trade-off. See, I'm not very good at writing smut and I kind of wrote the most explicit smut I've ever written in this fic so I figured I'll write the one thing I'm good at - angst. So, there's going to be a bit of plot in this now and a shit ton of angst before we get back to the porn at the end of this chapter. So yeah, off you go!

“I am really, genuinely happy!”

It rips through him, slashing and slitting and cutting, the guilt and the anger.

_The helplessness._

“He is absolutely perfect and I can’t believe I’ve--I just can’t believe my luck, Draco.”

Watching Cedric smile blindingly at him, his fingers gripping Draco’s arm like he physically couldn’t restrain himself, it’s all quite masochistic of him to have agreed to meet Cedric in the first place.

Fingers digging painfully into his skin, he smiles at his brother in response; the fingers and the grip is hurting him but it’s nowhere close to how much it hurts inside where no one can see.

No one can see his bleeding heart, ripped to shreds over and over in the last two weeks.

“I am so glad you’re here, so glad you came back. I want to share this with you, Draco, you’ve always known me best.”

He smiles at his brother, a mask of happiness sliding perfectly in place to cover his own sorrows. He would do anything for Cedric, of course he would.

Which is why they’re here in the first place.

“It was so sudden, he just burst into my office and asked if we could get married in two weeks’ time!”

This morning, when Cedric had asked Draco to get lunch with him, every cell in his body had wanted to refuse. A million excuses had crossed his mind within seconds, and he had realized how insane it would be to agree to this request.

And yet, here he is. He’s never refused anything Cedric has asked of him so why would be now?

For a brother so dear, why wouldn’t he give up everything? Why wouldn’t he give up the only man he has fallen in love with?

Of course he would.

“Draco?”

Pulling himself away from thoughts he hasn’t yet been able to make peace with, he looks up at his brother with questioning eyes.

Cedric moves his hand to cover Draco’s, stares at his brother imploringly before asking: “You don’t have someone in your life, do you?”

The sheer shock of hearing the question falling from his brother’s lips is enough to break the delicate mask on his features. But like a true Malfoy, he recovers and laughs it off.

“As if there’s anyone in this world deserving of me!”

Cedric’s eyes don’t leave his. They stay in a suspended moment for a heartbeat too long and Draco thinks, ‘he knows’.

_He knows._

Then Cedric’s lips part in a slow smile and he looks away.

“You’ll find someone soon and he’ll be very deserving, I’m sure! I wish you would find someone like Harry, someone who would make you happy.”

He doesn’t say anything in response, just swallows down whatever has lumped in his throat. With nails digging into his palms, he sits there across from Cedric with a smile pasted on his face, slowly dying inside.

There’s nothing he won’t do for his brother.

***

He has never felt this helpless in life.

And when you are Harry Potter, you’ve had plenty of experiences of helplessness.

But never, not while chasing Voldemort and accepting certain death; not when he was a child and dreamt of a better future away from the Dursleys; not when he was being hunted like prey, had he felt as helpless as he does now.

It’s not that those experiences weren’t bad or that he didn’t suffer through them, no. It’s that he could always do something about them, he always had a reason to do those things and he could live with himself because he knew it was worth it - he was ready to die because so many would live if he just died, he would see his parents if he just died.

He dreamed of a better future because he knew it couldn’t get any worse. Living in that cupboard under the stairs was the absolute worst he could think of and it could only get better. So, he woke up everyday and went on living because maybe today would be the day it’d all change.

He spent a year running for his life without a care because he was saving so many lives that it didn’t matter. He would lay awake many a night in the tent, listen to the reassuring sounds of Hermione sleeping fitfully , and wonder if he will get out of it alive. But even then, even in doubt, he had a reason to fight and he had something he could do.

Here and now, he is absolutely defeated.

Completely and utterly helpless, with no purpose and nothing he can do to distract himself.

For someone whose life has always been governed by others; whose life and death were both commanded by others, this one seems like the cruelest decision someone has made for him.

Maybe it’s just that it’s been five years since the war and he has mellowed, he has forgotten how wretched it felt living through it all. Or maybe it’s just that he had, for the first time, genuinely felt something stronger than a do-or-die response or felt something without being provoked and he just isn’t ready to give it up without a fight.  
He will have to, though. He has no other choice.

_Marry my brother, we are done._

That’s the last thing Draco had said to him.

He had gone home and laid awake in bed all night, thinking about what had been said before. Thinking and wondering and realizing that he felt the same way.

He had, somewhere along the way, also started

Realizing that everything he wanted from Cedric, only Draco could give him was a huge blow. As much as he had been losing himself in the blond, he’d never given a thought to just how deep the affection ran.

He’d been shocked at the intensity of his own feelings, the sheer power of the pull Draco had on him. Even as he’d coped with it, forced it down, tried to deny it and suppress it, it had ended with both of them giving in.

Even then, Harry was convinced that it was something unresolved from Hogwarts. Never once did it occur to him just how addicted he had become in such a short time.

Never once had it occurred to him that Draco was what he had been looking for for five years. That he was everything Harry had been craving and yearning and missing all these years.

And why would it? Why would someone he used to barely know be the answer to all his questions? Why would a careless fling rip his whole life apart so completely and yet so subtly?

The moment Harry had heard those words, he hadn’t fully grasped just what they meant. He hadn’t had the time, he was being thrown out and rejected.

Later when he had laid in his bed and relived those moments, it had struck him how much they were true for him too. How much he had refused to see and how far he had fallen.

He’d finally managed to close his eyes when it’d started getting light out, and the last thought he’d had was how he was going to tell Cedric because surely Draco was just angry at him and had told him to leave in his anger.

Surely, Draco didn’t mean it and he’d come back to Harry.

Oh how wrong he had been.

***

Two weeks of chasing after Draco and he hadn’t even been able to see him.

He had completely ignored Harry’s floo calls, had put wards on both his floo and his flat to make sure Harry couldn’t force his way in and he had even refused to see Harry at St. Mungo’s when he’d pretended to be injured.

The only time he had caught sight of the git was when Harry had waited in the hole-in-the-wall tea shop across from Draco’s flat for five hours before he had finally come home. Harry had rushed out of the shop, yelled Draco’s name and ran after him but the man hadn’t even turned to look at Harry.

Equal parts hurt and confused, he had been frozen in the middle of the street staring at the door Draco had just disappeared into. Dazed, he had stood there as people walked by and then ran by when it had suddenly started pouring.

Draco hadn’t even turned around to look at him.

***

Two days later, Draco Malfoy had barged into his office and taken a seat across from him without being offered. His secretary, Alana, had come in after the intruder and apologised profusely to Harry for not being able to stop the man from forcing his way in, “He wouldn’t listen, he just wouldn’t stop, sir--”

He had waved her off dismissively, unable to even look at her given the company.

Harry had been shaking with anger, hidden just under the surface.

How dare he barge into my work when he wouldn’t even look at me as I ran after him like a dog in the street?

Harry had been brimming with anticipation, poorly concealed with a clenched jaw and hard eyes.

Has he come to say he wants me back? Has he finally accepted that we are in this for life?

Harry had not been ready for what came next.

Draco had sat stiffly, like he was here for a professional reason. He hadn’t relaxed into the chair, he hadn’t bothered hanging up his coat which was folded in his lap and he hadn’t said a single word.

Harry, who just couldn’t stand the silence anymore, had leaned back in his chair and broken the deceitful tranquility, “Are you ready to acknowledge my existence again--”

“You have to marry Cedric.”

That was it, that was all he’d said.

In that cold and clipped tone of voice, in that detached manner, he had said it and stared straight at Harry who had lost his breath and just couldn’t believe what he’d heard.

His first instinct was to say Excuse me? and lunge across the desk, but he had refrained.

As they sat in a thundering silence, Harry had looked away and breathed slowly in and out. He had looked at the window, the people outside blurrily going on about their lives. He’d felt searing heat climbing his neck and face.

“Is that what you want?”, he had asked in as calm a manner as he could manage.

The man in front of him showed no signs of distress as he stared back.

“Yes.”

Harry had wanted to lean across the desk and shake him, punch him, hurt the bastard--anything to get a reaction out of him. Anything to make him react, to see that mask of composure and indifference shatter into a thousand pieces so Harry could see the raw emotions underneath.

Instead, he had sat there with his eyes glaring holes into this man at whose hands Harry had suffered more humiliation than anyone else.

Under his keen attention, Draco had held his own for a long minute. Then, he had turned his eyes away and cleared his throat.

His voice wasn’t quite so cold when he’d said, “Cedric loves you very much and he is genuinely happy for perhaps the first time in his life. He deserves to be happy.”

Harry couldn’t take his eyes off of him, he just couldn’t look away: “And you?”

Gray eyes had found his very quickly, and had retreated just as quickly. He had felt silently triumphant, at last he’d found a raw nerve.

“I want my brother to be happy.”

It had felt like a negotiation, the detached civility and indifference getting on his nerves as if they were discussing something mundane like a business transaction instead of their whole lives. But Harry wasn’t ready to give up just yet.

“Even if we both know that I don’t love him?”

“You’ll learn to love him.”

“And if I don’t want to?”

“I will beg.”

Those words and the earnest tone in which they were uttered knocked the wind out of him. Draco Malfoy’s eyes hadn’t swayed at all as he said it, his pride never made an appearance as he casually admitted that he’d get on his knees and beg for his brother.

The facade of cold civility shattered right there and then, Harry couldn’t argue about this like he was a passive observer in someone else’s life.

“Draco--”

“I will never be yours, I won’t _ever_ be yours. So this is the best thing to do.”

“This is insane! Do you hear yourself? Do you know what you’re asking of me?!!”

“You proposed to him, you must feel somethin--”

“Before I met you, before I knew what we had and before I fell for--”

“It doesn’t matter what we had.”

He had seen red at the easy dismissal of this storm of feelings and emotions that’d been brewing inside him for so long: “How dare you say that? How fucking dare you?!!”

Draco hadn’t answered for a moment, he hadn’t met Harry’s eyes and he hadn’t moved.

The wall of silence had really made Harry’s blood boil, how could Draco even ask this of him? How could he even conceive this preposterous idea?

“You want me to sacrifice my first love ? And for what? So all three of us will be unhappy?”

Draco had seemed shaken by Harry’s casual confession of love, but if he wanted a cold and dispassionate discussion then Harry was going to give him one.

He had recovered quickly though - the Malfoy etiquette at work, Harry suspected. But his clenched jaw and flared nostrils had betrayed the calm composure, and Harry was really struggling between calling off this ruse and keep pushing Draco to the edge to see him break.

The man in front of him didn’t break though, he continued on with a determination worthy of envy: “He won’t be unhappy, he loves you. And you will love him too, he’s the kindest and most beautiful person I’ve ever--”

“And what about you? Will you fall in love again? With someone else and marry them?”, he had no idea where that came from because he hadn’t even been thinking and everything he said and did was purely instinctual.

Draco had looked taken aback at his questions, his face had betrayed surprise for a second. Harry took that to be his answer and ran with it.

“So you’ll fall in love with someone and be happy with them while I’m stuck in a loveless marriage? Is that what you’re asking of me?”

“No, I--”

“Then, I’ll marry Cedric when you marry someone.”

“What?”

“You heard me. I will get married when you do. So we’ll both suffer.”

“Harry--”

“That’s what I want. Take it or leave it.”

He hadn’t got a clue why he’d said what he said. Hadn’t a clue where that had come from and why he had stubbornly refused to back down.

Draco had looked at him with wide eyes - wide, wet eyes.

And Harry had stood his ground and found himself smiling at his own misery as he circled behind Draco - closed his eyes and silently shuddered on a breath behind Draco’s turned back - and then stood in front of him, tall and adamant.

“I hope you’ll find someone good.”

Then he had disapparated from his own office without waiting for an answer.

He had waited for an answer for three days, but none had come.

Draco hadn’t flooed or shown up in his office again. Harry was certain that he would come, and the longer he’d had to wait in torturous silence, the angrier he had gotten. The more determined he had gotten.

It was the determination, and sheer madness that had made him barge into Cedric’s office that day and ask him to get married within the week.

All he’d been able to think as Cedric had said yes and embraced him, held him, kissed him was: _Congratulations, Draco. You’ve got what you wanted._

***

And now here he is, a week later.

Completely and utterly helpless.

Driven to near insanity by Draco Malfoy, and a slave of his own impulses.

“So. You moved the wedding forward.”

Hermione’s skepticism is clear in her voice, then again she has never hidden how she feels about Harry’s proposal in the first place.

Her eyes are piercing through him; he wishes he could just tell her the truth, just say I thought it would bring him to his senses!

But he can’t, in no world does it make sense what he’s done. He can’t even understand his own actions, can’t wrap his head around what he’s done so then how can he even begin to explain it to someone else.

If he had thought that making the wedding a real possibility would snap Draco out of this madness, clearly he didn’t know the man he had fallen for.

All that had come of his stupidly impulsive declaration was an elated Cedric who’d gone home and delivered the news to Narcissa and Lucius and they’d been equally happy. Apparently, Draco and Cedric had gone out for lunch just yesterday and Cedric had told his brother the good news.

“Draco was so happy, Harry! He seemed a little subdued though. I asked him if he was seeing anyone, he denied it but I think he has someone. Maybe he’s just not ready to tell us yet. Oh, I want him to be happy, to be with someone who loves him and cares for him and...”

Harry had numbly nodded along to Cedric’s exclamations, completely lost in his own thoughts. He’d never imagined he’d be in this position, had absolutely believed that Draco would call off this lunacy the second he’d hear of Harry’s proposal.

He had been expecting the git to tumble out of the fireplace 12 Grimmauld Place and knock Harry over in his hurry to get to him, if Draco Malfoy could do any sort of tumbling.

Maybe, he’d show up in Harry’s office again with an agitated Alana following him only to witness the intruder senselessly snogging her boss.

He hadn’t been expecting an invitation to attend dinner at the Malfoy Manor tonight, an invitation signed and sent by _Draco A. Malfoy_.

“Harry?”

Breaking himself out of his trance, he finds Hermione shaking him and looking at him with worried eyes.

“Sorry, I just--I was thinking of something.”

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. What were you saying?”

Her creased forehead says it all, she has started analysing and it will be best for him if he diverted this discussion toward less self-destructive topics.

“How’s Rosie? I haven’t seen her in so long.”

She looks into his eyes - imploring and encouraging - but when he doesn’t show any signs of sharing, she sighs and goes back to her tea.

“She misses her uncle Harry.”

“I’ll come around after work tomorrow, we’ll make a day of it.”

He feels guilty for not spending enough time with his godchildren but with everything that’s been happening these past few weeks, he really couldn’t see anything outside of Draco.

Even now as Hermione is telling him about something Hugo did the other day, he can’t stop worrying about what tonight will bring. Can’t stop obsessing over everything that’s happened.

And the impending sense of doom sits like a heavy rock right across his chest, making it hard to breathe.

***

“To Cedric and Harry!”

The Malfoys all raise their glasses in a toast and Harry can’t seem to take his eyes off a particular Malfoy who seems to be just as cheerful as the rest of them. No sign of discomfort anywhere on his face or his body language.

A second too late, Harry realises he’s the only one with his glass still on the table and he hastily picks it up and joins in.

In a sick twist of fate, Draco is once again sitting opposite him and Harry must be a masochistic bastard because he’s thinking of all the previous times he was sat here, across from the youngest Malfoy.

Lucius and Cedric start talking about some estranged family member, and Narcissa is passing instructions to a house elf about a special treat for dessert.

And across the massive mahogany table, sits Draco Malfoy with an empty glass of wine by his hand before the meal has even been served.

He must feel Harry watching him, he must feel it, like all those other times they’ve sat across from each other and lost themselves in the other’s eyes. This time, he doesn’t look up and they don’t get caught in a state between being present here in the moment and being somewhere far away.

Instead, he eats silently and refuses to meet Harry’s eyes. He also drinks half a bottle of wine by himself and doesn’t show any signs of slowing down.

Harry just wants to yank him out of his seat, take him by the hand and get him out of here. Get him alone somewhere, away from everyone and then, maybe then...

He doesn’t dare, only because he’s not sure Draco will go with him.

Narcissa pulls him out of his thoughts when she asks, “Have you given any thought to where you might like for the wedding to take place, Harry?”

Unbidden, his eyes dart from her to her son’s face.

Her son, who for once doesn’t snatch his eyes away. And Harry is struck by them, remembers looking into them for the first time across this very table and feeling a shiver run down his spine. In the dim lighting of the dining room, they look like molten silver.

Her son, who stares right back at Harry as if challenging him into something and Harry feels a slow ascent of hope, maybe Draco is finally sick of this facade and is going to call it all off--

The smile dies on his lips when Draco turns toward the head of the table and announces, “Father, we should hold a ceremony here at the Manor to mark the happy occasion. Especially since there wasn’t an engagement party.”

Lucius looks consideringly at his son for a moment before nodding and agreeing wholeheartedly. Cedric flushes instantly when Narcissa expresses her joy at having such a celebration and all Harry can do is stare blankly at the person across from him who won’t look up from his meal.

Through the thrum of conversation around him, he sits there numbly - his ears ringing with the sound of blood rushing through his veins. His hand trembles around his fork so he takes it off the table and clenches it in his lap.

“It is decided then, we shall have a celebration the day after tomorrow.”

Harry returns Cedric’s smile and squeezes his hand, before gulping down the wine in his glass.

He makes it a point to keep his eyes from wandering across the table.

And when he’s leaving, he wishes everyone a good night save one. He can feel the heat of a gaze on the back of his neck, can almost feel the pain rolling off of Draco but he doesn’t turn around.

If this is how Draco wants to play - cold and cruel - Harry will gladly return the favour.

***

The last few weeks have been hell.

There is no other word for it, no other way Draco can describe what he’s been living through.

No one knows anything’s off so he has to pretend day in and day out. Has to go to work normally, has to smile in all the right places and has to pretend that he isn’t breaking down piece by fucking piece every moment of every day.

“You alright? You’ve been preoccupied today.”

Turning to his trainee healer, he slaps on that smile that’s become second nature to him by now.

“Tired is all.”

She smiles back and nods as if she understands. She does, he supposes. She’s also been working hectic hours, after all.

“Your brother’s getting married to Harry Potter, I hear.”

The bottle of dittany slips through his fingers and crashes at his feet, shards of glass flying everywhere, before he even registers it.

Vanishing the mess with a quick wandless spell, he turns and leaves the room with a whispered “Excuse me.”

In the solitary isolation of his office, he closes the door and falls against it lifelessly. Here, he can be himself.

Here, he doesn’t have to pretend to be alright when he’s coming apart alarmingly fast.

_You have to get used to people asking about it, y’know. Everybody’s going to want to ask._

He shakes his head as if that’ll stop the familiar voice from pointing out things that are most certainly true but also most assuredly cruel and painful.

_If this is how you want to do this, Draco, you have to be ready to hear these things. People will ask how’s your brother and his husband--_

“Stop it! STOP!”

_You could have it, you could have it all. But you won’t accept it. You are doing this to yourself._

“Please, just please.” He slides down the door and sits there with his back to the door and his head in his hands as the voice keeps going and keeps reminding him of everything that’s been keeping him awake.

_You don’t have a right to feel sorry for yourself, you’ve done this to yourself. Stop acting like this is happening to you, like you’re helpless in all of this--_

“Please just stop, I’m exhausted. Go away!”

He gives himself five minutes to push everything down and when he comes out of the room, he isn’t struggling, doesn’t have wet eyes or trembling hands. He is the Head Healer of Accidents and Burns at St. Mungo’s who’s got a whole day of work ahead of him.

He will bury everything till he gets home and can break apart without restraint.

Then, he’ll put himself together for another day. And then afterwards maybe, he’ll find a way to stop this vicious cycle from repeating.

You only have to say one word.  
That annoying voice in his head has got to stop, there’s no way he can live like this--

“Healer Malfoy, we have an emergency!”

For now, work awaits.

***

The next few days are an absolute storm with everything and everyone getting out of control.

Work keeps him distracted from the impending shitestorm, but it only goes so far. Cedric is completely ecstatic, Narcissa keeps sending him owls about the party at the Manor, and Hermione keeps giving him the same look over and over.

Suffice it to say, Harry is almost at the end of his patience.

“Sir?”

He looks up to find his secretary standing by his desk looking at him questioningly. When did she come in?

“Yes?”

“Er--Mr. Malfoy’s here to see you.”

The chair crashes to the floor in his hurry to stand up and Alana lets out a little squeal of surprise at the sound.

“Send him in.”

On her way out, she looks at him over her shoulder, eyes curious and worried at the same time. He just raises an eyebrow at her and that gets her to turn around and walk out quickly.

Harry can feel his heart thundering in his chest, he wrings his hands in anticipation as he stares at the door waiting for Draco to walk through it and make him the happiest man in the world.

A drop of sweat trickles down the back of his neck and he quickly wipes it on the inside of his collar, his ears and fingers gone numb rather alarmingly as he waits in anticipation.

_I’ll forgive him, for everything. I’ll forgive him and forget it all. It’ll be alright--_

Cedric walks through the open door with a blinding smile on his face and Harry feels like someone has stabbed him right through the heart. Frozen on the spot, he accepts a warm embrace and sits down without really thinking about it. The numbness has spread to his whole body and, dare he say, his mind.

Cedric wants to talk about his brother and a mysterious man in said brother’s life.

It feels like someone’s decided to twist that knife sticking into his heart, twist and turn it agonizingly slow making sure it hurts with every little movement of a sharp blade.

He smiles in all the right places and nods whenever Cedric looks like he’s waiting for an answer.

“So, you’ll ask him?”

Cedric’s hand on his arm tightens when he doesn’t answer. Maybe he should’ve been paying a little more attention.

“Sorry?”

Cedric just shakes his head in that fond way he has. Smiling he repeats his question, “I said so you’ll ask him who he’s seeing? He’ll tell you, I think. You two have grown rather close and that makes me so relieved. I was worried how you’d get along after Hogwarts and all that but you seem to...”

He just sits there and holds himself together. Barely.

He has to do something about this or he’ll send himself to an early grave.

Alana comes in after Cedric leaves; she has a decanter of scotch and a glass in hand. Without a word, she sets them both down on the table in front of him.

He doesn’t ask where she got them or why she thinks he needs scotch at ten in the morning.

She doesn’t offer any explanation, but her hand is warm on his shoulder for a moment just before she leaves him to get toshed at work.

***

Finally, the weekend of the party arrives.

Harry isn’t sure how he’s going to get through the next three days but he has to because what else can he do?

Cedric had flooed over to Grimmauld Place earlier and packed a bag for Harry, not ready to hear any excuses for why Harry wasn’t able to stay at the Manor for the whole weekend.

And now here they are.

Other than the Malfoys and Harry, there is an additional presence for the weekend: Blaise Zabini.

Apparently, he’s recently come back to England and has been dying to come over and spend some quality time with his best mate from school. Harry isn’t too keen on the prospect but when has he gotten any say in what Draco should and shouldn’t do?

So, he bites his tongue and sits at the breakfast table and watches as Zabini animatedly tells stories of Draco at Hogwarts and the Malfoys all laugh.

The only one who isn’t laughing is Draco. He smiles once in awhile but it’s a mask, Harry can tell. Mostly, he sits there nibbling on a piece of toast and ignoring Harry.

“--the time he made those badges that said ‘Potter Stinks’. We all thought that was a whole new level of his Potter hate. I mean, he justified it by saying he was supporting his brother in the Tri-wizard tournament but we all knew it was more about Potter here.”

Harry can’t take his eyes off Draco even as Zabini is looking at him imploringly, waiting for the Chosen One’s reaction to this apparent revelation.

Zabini can wait.

Unfortunately, Cedric can’t: “Harry? You’re not angry with Draco still, are you?”

He bites off his words and just smiles at Cedric.

When gray eyes meet his across the table, he reckons his own eyes say everything that needs to be said.

He hates Draco Malfoy, for reasons entirely different than whatever Cedric or anyone else may be thinking.

***

Blaise means well, he knows that.

Blaise doesn’t know what’s going on inside him and he’s only trying to cheer up his mate, he knows that too.

Knowing isn’t helping though. He just wants to lay down in his bed and turn off his brain. Maybe that’ll make it stop hurting.

But it’s not happening any time soon because Blaise doesn’t want to leave. They’ve been in Draco’s room for hours, exchanging stories of Pansy Parkinson and everything she put the two of them through.

Blaise has been in the process of leaving for at least half an hour now. Every time Draco turns toward the bed having said another ‘goodnight’, Blaise stops on his way out the door and brings up another story. He seems reluctant to leave, hoping for an all night nostalgia filled chat but Draco needs his peace and quiet.

He knows why Blaise is cracking jokes and taking the piss, know why he keeps stopping on his way out the door. It’s because he wants to stay and keep talking to Draco but Draco isn’t feeling up to it right now.

Eventually, Blaise does get the message and stops knocking on his door every time Draco’s turned his back to him. Eventually, he does leave.

Exhausted, Draco sits down on his bed, head in his hands, and finally breathes without feeling like his chest is being crushed under a magnificent weight.

Soon, this’ll all be over and he’ll go home and drink himself to death.

Another knock.

Merlin, Zabini.

“Blaise, will you just--”

He stops short when it’s not his friend standing in the doorway but the one person he wouldn’t have expected to be knocking on his door, the person who is looking at him with betrayal written across his face like he’s just been slapped.

He lowers his hand from the door and looks at Draco in a way that feels like he’s staring right into his soul.

Then, in the coldest voice possible, he says: “ _Harry_.”

Draco can’t even bring himself to respond, he’s too lost in the anger and the pain reflected in the most beautiful eyes he’s ever seen.

Harry walks into the room toward the bed with the sweater Draco had forgotten at the breakfast table gripped tight in his hands, every step taken with determination and Draco can’t help but see Head Auror in the way he walks.

He commands respect, commands obedience and Draco almost looks away from those cold eyes but something tells him that if he does, it will make things much worse than they are.

So he stays where he is, waiting for Harry to reach him. The air around them is thick with tension, and anger is rolling off of Harry in waves.

He holds the sweater out for Draco to take and in that same cold voice spits out, “It’s Harry.”

“I--”

He doesn’t even let Draco explain that he thought it was Blaise because Blaise had just been hanging around irritating Draco and that’s why he had called out his name without even looking.

No, before Draco can even begin, Harry has turned around and walked away with a stiff back and fists clenched by his sides.

Draco can only sigh in frustration.

Dobby finds him hours later, drowning under the thick quilt and half-asleep. He forces Draco to reappear from under the quilt with the smell of his delicious hot cocoa.

He knows Draco loves hot cocoa and he has used it for nefarious purposes in the past so it’s only instinct that Draco is suspicious of his motives.

And he knows for a fact that Dobby pledges allegiance to Harry Potter before anyone else so excuse him for looking at the elf with narrowed eyes, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Dobby looks guilty, his huge eyes are swimming in unshed tears before he finally cracks and squeaks out, “Mister Potter is asking to see Master Draco.”

Oh.

“Thanks, Dobby.”

Well.

***

“You called for me?”

“Hi, Draco. Crisps?”

Draco just shakes his head watching silently as Harry folds up the pack of crisps and stands up a little straighter though still leaning on the wall behind him. He doesn’t make any other move, just stands there looking up at Draco through his slightly smudged glasses.

They are in the same room they’d first given in to the temptations. 

It’s definitely on purpose that Harry has called him to meet here. He probably wants to provoke Draco or perhaps to punish him because being here, in this room with Harry is more than he can handle right now. Being here is more than he will ever be able to handle, he suspects.

That wall right there is where Harry had pinned Draco against and taken him. 

And that wallpaper was what he was looking at while Harry was pounding into him.

No, he can’t be here and not think these things. He’ll have to stay away from this room, but for now just turning around and facing the far wall should be painless enough.

The silence had almost pushed him over the edge when Harry finally clears his throat and says, “I need to talk to you about something important. Your brother sent me, he wants me to ask you about someone who’s in your life. Y’know, romantically.”

He’s looking at Draco with raised eyebrows as if waiting for his answer. As if he doesn’t already know who is in his life, romantically or otherwise.

When Draco doesn’t answer him, he pushes off the wall and goes to stand by the window - the very picture of casualty. With his back to Draco, he speaks again: “He thinks I’m the only one who can convince you to tell me who it is.”

Any possible response dies on his tongue when Harry turns around, a smile slowly crawling onto his lips. It’s a very cruel smile and it chills Draco to the bone. Subconsciously, he wraps his arms around himself but that doesn’t stop Harry from continuing down this path of madness.

“He thinks it’s Blaise. What do you think?”

The look of genuine curiosity on Harry’s face makes something curl up inside Draco, the way Harry looks like he doesn’t know what the answer is makes bile rise at the back of his throat and he doesn’t know what to say except, “Stop it.”

He only smiles even wider; there’s something dark and sinister in that smile, it makes Draco want to look away and hide. It makes him wonder if they are both sadistic bastards. Makes him wonder if he’s pushed Harry too far.

While he’s been lost in his thoughts, Harry’s moved from his spot and is slowly but surely advancing toward him. “Stop what?” He stops only a step away and leans in close enough that Draco can feel his breath on his face when he asks, “I need to answer Cedric, what should I tell him?”

It’s unnerving to have Harry standing so close when it’s been weeks that he’s been running away from this very possibility. It would be so easy to back down, so easy to turn around and walk away from this. Walk away from Harry and all his provocations and his cruel smiles, but it’s his inability to walk away from the git that got him in this mess in the first place.

So he stands his ground, “Tell him”, he looks straight into Harry’s eyes despite the crushing urge to just walk away now, “I’m not interested in Blaise or anyone else.”

Harry snickers at his answer and bites his lip in concentration, but he doesn’t step back. Instead, his eyes bore into Draco’s and from this close, he can see the flecks of gold amidst the sea of green.

For the briefest moment, Draco forgets where they are and how they’ve ended up here. Forgets that his decision has landed them here, against each other. Tries to remember what it felt like to have Harry by his side and not against him.

Harry’s overly innocent voice pulls him away from his thoughts, “Why not? You’re young, good looking; you must be wanting to settle.”

Lurking underneath the tooth rotting sweetness of his manner, Draco can sense the hostility. “You can’t always be alone. You’ve known Blaise for years and from what I can tell, you like him--”

“Please don’t.” He can’t listen to this anymore, he has to stop this even if he knows his voice will break when he speaks, “Pleas--”

Harry seems to lean in even closer, completely disregarding Draco’s pleading voice, “Unless, you’re in love with someone else. Then, of course, it’s understandable.”

His eyes flash in challenge, his whole body taut. Suspended in the moment like they’re on the edge of a fatal fall, they stand in thick silence.

Harry moves then, jutting out his chin in defiance. He takes a final step forward, “Are you in love with someone else, Draco?”

He tries to put distance between them again, but his back hits the wall and he can’t escape this, “Please stop, just please--”

“That’s exactly what I’ve been saying! Stop it, just stop all this!”

Within a second, Harry’s stepped back and the shock of his absence combined with his words leaves Draco panting.

Harry’s roaring, “Do you finally get it? Get how I feel?! Fucking stop this!”, that vein in his forehead absolutely throbbing in his raging state and Draco just can’t do this anymore. He can’t be weak and vulnerable in front of Harry.

“There’s nothing to stop, you’re marrying Cedric and I have nothing with Blaise.”

“Make it into something, then. I dare you!” Every word spat in rage, Draco knows Harry doesn’t mean it.

The eyes that usually reflect forests and fresh cut grass are almost an ugly black right now as Harry’s gaze pierces right through him. No, he doesn’t mean any of it.

“What?”

There’s that wicked smile again. “You haven’t forgotten our deal, have you? Because I haven’t.”

Dread pools in his gut when realisation dawns but he can’t help asking again, “W--what?”

“I’ll marry Cedric when you marry someone.” Harry is exceptionally calm as he says this, and that’s what scares Draco. The lightning-quick transformation from shaking with anger to absolutely serene is unnerving.

“But…”

“But what?”

Shaking his head in denial won’t do anything but that doesn’t stop him. “I can’t. I just can’t.”

“Why not?” His eyes bore into Draco, he’s absolutely relentless even in this sudden calm.

He feels that twitch in his nose which means he’s close to tears. “I can’t.” The image of Harry in front of him swims in unshed tears.

Through the tears, he sees Harry stepping closer. His hand lands on Draco’s cheek, just barely touching but he’s there.

“I’ll tell you why not. You love me. You love me too much to even think of someone else. You can never be anybody else’s but mine.”

Draco pushes against his chest, pushes him away and wipes away his eyes on the sleeve of his shirt. “I am not yours! I am not something to be possessed.”

“Aren’t you, though? Aren’t I? Because you made me yours ages ago, and I didn’t even know it.”

“Stop this, Harry! Just stop it!”

“I’ll stop when you find someone, when you say yes to Blaise. I’ll stop then.”

Frustration and exhaustion threaten to pull him under. Merlin, he’s so tired.

“Why are you doing this?”

In the most honest moment since all this started, Harry just stands there and holds his eyes. “Because it’s your turn to sacrifice, Draco.”

“Please, Harry. Just plea--”

Harry walks back from him, eyes still trained on Draco but his feet carrying him backwards. Any signs of the affection from two seconds ago wiped clean as he points straight at Draco and announces, “I’m giving you two days, and if you don’t say yes to Blaise, I’ll stand in front of everyone and tell them I love you.”

“You can’t do--”

He turns his back.

“You can go now.”

***

Cedric has not stopped smiling for three days and Draco feels so brittle, he feels like he’ll shatter any moment. Sometimes he thinks he’s overthinking it, making himself into a heartbroken Hufflepuff, but then he remembers everything that’s happened in the last month and then it doesn’t seem like over-thinking.

Harry’s words keep echoing in his mind and he can’t convince himself anymore that Harry was only taking the piss. No, he sounded far too serious to be joking.

Does he really expect me to marry someone else?

No. No, he doesn’t. How can he?

Isn’t that what you’re expecting of him?

He feels like he’s stuck underwater and he just can’t get to the surface. Like someone’s holding him under the water and he’s grappling, struggling but he can’t--he just can’t breathe. Oh Merlin, he can’t--

“Draco?”

Blaise is standing in front of him, worry etched deep in his features.

“Blaise.”

He convinces his mate that it’s work he’s worried about. He lies so well that Blaise even asks him if he’s considered another workplace that’ll be a little less hectic.

Laughing it off, he throws the conversation back at Blaise. Even though they’ve met several times in the last few years, it still feels like he hasn’t seen the man since Hogwarts.

“Maybe, it’s the place”, says Blaise, “maybe it’s just that we’ve met in France and not here, at home.”

“Maybe.”

Ten minutes later, he’s walking down the gravel path surrounding the Manor with Blaise by his side. Surprisingly, the air has actually made him feel a little lighter.

They’re walking by Mother’s rose gardens when Blaise breaks the silence that had settled over them.

“Cedric was wondering if you might be up for a drink tonight? It’ll be just the four of us.”

He looks really expectant as he watches Draco, waiting for an answer. Maybe drinking will help him get ready for tomorrow.

“That’ll be nice.”

Blaise smiles in that way that makes blokes fall at his feet, but Draco’s far too gone on someone else to feel that way.

His mate seems to have cottoned on to that fact too. He gets extremely quiet after that.

***

Cedric has decided to drag him to some sort of a sitting room on the third floor with no explanation whatsoever. And because he really has no control over anything right now, he lets himself get dragged.

“I think you need to lighten up a little, you and Draco both.”

_His feet stop moving of their own accord, is this some sort of ambush? Did Cedric somehow find out about he and Draco?_

“What do you mean?”

Cedric just smiles in that way he does, it transforms his whole face and Harry really can’t see even a touch of cruelty in that smile.

“I mean that you have been so quiet these last few days. And my brother just seems lost all the time, what did he tell you anyway? Did he say something worrying? Is that why you’ve been--”

Harry can’t let him worry, no matter how much he’s already done to hurt Cedric he won’t give him any more reasons: “No, he didn’t. I’m just worried about a case that’s come up and Draco said that he’s got some problems at work. That’s all it is.”

_The relief that shines through the worry on Cedric’s face makes guilt coil up in his gut. How can he be so heartless to someone as kind as Cedric? How did he end up in this mess? Why did he ever think that hurting Cedric was worth anyth--_

“Draco, there you are!”

Right. That’s why.

On the other end of the corridor, Draco has stopped dead and Blaise Zabini has walked right into his back before chastising his mate for stopping without a warning.

“I think I’m ready for that drink, Cedric.”

Laughter rings out from beside him at Zabini’s exclamation as Cedric unlocks the room. Still laughing at something Zabini’s said, they both disappear inside the study leaving Harry and Draco perfectly frozen in place.

Well, this was going to happen some time. He was going to see Draco again after that little chat they’d had earlier, might as well do it now.

Lifting his hand to motion Draco in, he stands to the side of the door: “After you.”

Draco walks inside with a whispered “Thanks.”

Inside the room, dark furniture and bookcases lining the walls give the place a cozy feel. Dozens of portraits are hanging up on the walls but none of them is moving. Harry almost compares the room to Dumbledore’s office before cutting himself off and thinking better of it.

Blaise and Cedric are sitting at a table off to the right side of the room, having already poured themselves drinks. On the table, stand several decanters filled with whiskey and scotch, undoubtedly Lucius Malfoy’s pride and joy.

Cedric catches Harry’s attention and motions him over to the chair beside his own. Harry walks over and settles into the comfortable chair, watching as Draco goes to sit beside Zabini.

Once everyone has a drink, Zabini mentions something about playing truth or dare and Harry really isn’t pissed enough for this so he gulps down his scotch and refills his glass before it is decided that they will play the game.

Draco seems to be unhappy with this decision and is currently arguing with Zabini. Harry’s sipping on his drink and watching the argument across the table when he feels a hand on his arm. Looking down to find Cedric’s hand gripping his elbow, Harry turns to the man beside him.

“Are you and Draco okay?”

He forgets to breathe for a second and to swallow the drink in his mouth so of course he chokes on it and is seconds away from covering the table in scotch. Thankfully, he recovers in time and no one gets covered in scotch.

“How do you mean?”

Cedric leans in a little to make sure no one else hears him, with Draco and Zabini still busy arguing Harry doesn’t see a point, but out of the corner of his eye he does see Draco stop talking mid-sentence.

Well, if Harry had known that jealousy would’ve gotten Draco’s attention he could’ve ended this madness ages ago. Is that all it will take?

“You’ve been awkward around each other. It’s not about those stupid badges he made in sixth year, is it?”

He can only shake his head.

“Well, whatever it is, sort it out. I don’t like seeing you both like this.”

Before he can say anything, Zabini claps loudly and announces that the game should begin. When Harry looks over, Draco is staring straight at him and he doesn’t know what to do with it.

***

He’s drunk enough to fuck it all up with just one word.

The whiskey and scotch mixed with his blood is rushing through his veins, making it difficult to remind himself why he hasn’t just pushed Draco against a wall and snogged him senseless right in front of everyone.

He’s staring, he knows. He’s more than staring, he hasn’t taken his eyes off of Draco for a single second since the buzz started numbing his mind.

And now they’re playing this forsaken game and Harry really can’t see himself censoring any word or action in his current state. He feels oddly invigorated and on edge, if a little wary.

Zabini snaps his fingers right in front of Harry’s face and with a wicked grin on his face, asks: “What is the dirtiest pick-up line you can think of right now, Potter?”

And it’s testament to just how pissed he is that he’s looking right at Draco when he answers, “I’ve got a tip for you, or if you prefer, I could put the whole thing in.”

Draco’s head snaps up, wide grey eyes piercing into Harry. His jaw is clenched and Harry just wants to kiss that sharpness, feel his tongue on it and bite down and then soothe the bruises with his tongue.

“I really wouldn’t have expected that from you, Potter! You’re a lucky man, Cedric.”

Harry wants to stare at Draco, wants to make him feel sorry for doing this to both of them but he knows he has to look away. It’ll be hard to explain why he can’t take his eyes off his brother in law after having said something he’d utter during sex.

Well, at least Draco keeps staring at him long after he has looked away.

“Don’t I know it, Blaise”, comes Cedric’s answer before he leans in and places a kiss on Harry’s cheek.

Draco’s jaw clenches, and Harry feels a sick sense of satisfaction at seeing his reaction. It feels like an electric current is in the room, like a spell is hanging in the air between them and just like that, Draco gets up and leaves the room with a hushed, “Excuse me.”

Harry doesn’t know what he’s doing, he isn’t aware of his own movements and he doesn’t even think as his feet follow with an excuse to go to the bathroom.

Draco is outside, leaning against the wall of the corridor and he looks up when Harry comes out. The moment their eyes meet, he knows that there isn’t any pretension between them right now, no layers of lies.

This is the Draco he fell for.

The first step he takes toward him though, Draco shakes his head and nods toward another smaller corridor towards the end of this one. He silently walks away in that direction and Harry follows.

When Draco turns into the small space, Harry stops for a moment and takes a deep breath. Then, he turns around the corner to find Draco standing there waiting for him.

Without a single word, he steps up, reaches out and pulls Draco to himself. He comes to Harry like he doesn’t weigh anything, body slamming into Harry’s like waves crashing on a shore.

It’s like getting a drink of water after hours of desperate thirst.

And they just stand there like that, holding each other and nothing else. Nothing needs to be said, nothing needs to done.

_Holding him like this is enough._

***

He doesn’t know how long it’s been, can’t think straight and certainly can’t imagine letting Draco go. In the deafening silence of the manor around them, he can fool himself that it’s only them here.

It breaks just as easily as it had been created, the illusion of being alone with Draco.

He feels hands on his chest and then he’s being pushed away.

And it feels like his heart’s being trampled on once again. One last breath, that smell of Draco lingering around him, and he lets go.

Draco tries to walk away without saying anything and Harry can’t let him leave so easily, he can’t.

Before he knows it, his hand is around Draco’s wrist and the gray eyes looking into his are wide with surprise as if he can’t fathom the possibility that Harry might want to say something after Draco’s just stood there clinging to him for five minutes.

“How far are you willing to take this?”

Draco yanks his hand away and steps back from him. In the cramped space, there really isn’t anywhere to go so they stand with their backs to opposite walls, only a few inches between them.

It feels like this is the first honest interaction they’ve had in weeks because there isn’t anyone else around who they have to lie for.

Standing here, in a dimly lit corridor where anyone could walk in and see them, Harry feels like this will be the culmination of all this madness.

“I don’t know what you mean”, Draco says shattering every expectation Harry had.

“You know, you really are who you’ve always been and who I’ve always thought you were. You always did know how to cause the most pain, where to hit someone so they’d hurt the most. Bleed the most.”

Draco doesn’t say anything in response, he just stands there listening to everything Harry’s been struggling with all this time.

“The funny thing is I knew you could ruin me and I let you.”

“Harry, don’t make this hard for me. I can’t--”

“Hard for you? Are you fucking joking right now? Are you...”

He stops mid-sentence.

Because at the end of it all, Harry really doesn’t have much to say. He feels exhausted and like he could drop dead any moment.

He is tired of it all.

Tired of feeling angry, of being hopeful for a moment before losing it all the very next and of feeling helpless.

In the end, he just looks at Draco and can’t bring himself to be angry or frustrated or anything really. No, Harry just looks into his eyes and tells him the one thing he knows for sure: “I will never forgive you if you go through with this.”

He walks away without waiting for a response, because then at least he can pretend that there is a chance Draco will change his mind before he ruins both their lives.

***

Harry has just walked away, left him standing in this corridor still shaking from having been so close.

He doesn’t know what came over him, maybe it was the drinking or maybe just the realization that tomorrow Harry will officially be Cedric's.

He’d just walked out on an impulse, stupid Gryffindor and his stupid brashness rubbing off on unsuspecting Slytherins.

He’d seen Cedric , and hadn’t been able to sit there any longer. His feet had moved on their own and he hadn’t breathed till the door wasn’t closed behind him. Still reeling from the sinking sensation in his chest, he’d heard the door open and then Harry had stepped out.

It’d been too much and Draco just couldn’t take it. He had clung to Harry like a lifeline, had held on to him like he’d never let go.

And then, the reality of the situation had slapped him in the face and he’d pushed Harry away.

_I will never forgive you..._

The utter resignation in Harry’s voice as he’d said that had pierced right through him.

And now here he is, Merlin knows how much later, still standing in the same spot without a single idea as to what he should do.

Lost in his own misery, he hasn’t even noticed the figure walking by and then double-tracking and coming back to stand beside him.

“Draco?”

Startled, he looks up to see Blaise watching him with curiosity. And just like that, the only thing that matters is keeping the mask on.

“Blaise, I just stepped out for a momen--”

“Will you stop lying for one second?”

Heart pounding in his ears, he shakes his head and rushes to explain: “I’m not lying. I didn’t feel very well, that’s all.”

Blaise chuckles at his answer, his eyes rake over Draco’s face for a moment before he asks, “I’m curious, are you just lying to me or yourself too?”

“I don’t understand.”

“Okay, I’ll say it. How long have you been involved with Potter?”

To say that he feels shaken would be understatement because it feels like his whole world has been turned upside down by a simple question.

A lie, a million lies are on his tongue but in that moment, he feels absolutely exhausted. The weight he’s been carrying around for so long seems like it’ll bury him if he doesn’t admit it now.

“I felt it the first time I saw him after coming back.”

Blaise sucks in a sharp breath like he can’t believe Draco would do something so dirty, and isn’t that something? His oldest mate thinks him capable of betraying his brother for months.

“I didn’t give in, not for weeks. Even though it felt like something was tearing me apart inside; every time we were in the same room, it was like being back at Hogwarts in the Room of Requirement. Surrounded by fire, fire that could kill us, and we only had each other to turn to. That’s what it felt like.”

He stops, gives himself a moment to suppress and deny because it won’t do anyone any good if he lets himself say any of it aloud. Saying it will only make it true, make it hurt more.

“Anyway, it was difficult being around him. Knowing how much Cedric loved him, and that he’d proposed, it just didn’t matter for some fucking reason. And I know how selfish that sounds, I was selfish--I was a right bastard--”

“Draco--”

“No, I--leave it, Blaise. I know what I did and I am not going to make excuses for it. I gave in, I surrendered and it was just supposed to be--I don’t know what. It wasn’t supposed to happen but it did. We ended up shagging, and I wanted more. Much more, couldn’t even look myself in the mirror for days. And then…”

He can’t help but laugh at his own stupidity. Even if it feels like he’s being cut into ribbons on the inside, he smiles at Blaise.

“Then what?”

“Then, I fell for him.”

A thunderous silence engulfs them. Blaise is looking at him with shocked eyes and Draco doesn’t know what to do other than sigh.

“You...”

They stand in thick silence for a while, Draco can see Blaise analysing his every word. Unbidden, an image comes to mind.

Slytherin common room: Blaise, Pansy, and Draco sitting near the fireplace talking about arranged marriages in their families. Pansy had asked Draco if he would marry her and _Draco had laughed at her naivety._

_‘I don’t see myself marrying a woman, Pansy. Much less you.’_

_‘Who would you marry then? Are you in love with someone?’_

_‘Love? Did you eat a Hufflepuff for breakfast, Pansy? Malfoys don’t fall in love.’_

And now here he is, fallen so far that his own best mate doesn’t recognise him. All the arrogance and narcissism of his snotty teenage years washed away by countless tears.

Blaise’s stern voice interrupts his self-deprecation. “Cedric deserves to know. I know you know that, and I know that you’ve probably got some stupid idea in your head about how he’ll be happier if he doesn’t find out. But I am telling you, Draco, that he deserves to know.”

“I can’t tell him.”

“You don’t have a choice. What does Potter think?”

He can’t bring himself to say anything. It’s bad enough that Blaise knows about his stupid mistake of shagging his brother in law, but admitting to anything more--he just can’t do it.

“He wants to tell, doesn’t he?”

He can only nod, doesn’t trust himself to not say something devastating.

“Why hasn’t he already done it, then? Potter’s not the type to hold back any--”

One look from Draco and Blaise knows, he doesn’t know all of it but he looks like he has worked out the gist of it.

“You’ve asked him not to.”

It’s raining outside, the little window across from the corridor looks out over the East wing and the sound of rain hitting the turret is so familiar that he gets lost in it, numb enough to forget this mess for just one moment.

“You asked him not to say anything and he’s listened? Salazar, he must be mad. You’re both mad.”

“Can’t really argue with that, Blaise.” A humourless laugh escapes his mouth before he can think better of it. Merlin, he’s turning into such a sap with all this Potter business.

“No, you can’t get away with this so easily, Draco! You can’t just lie and let them live a lie. Tell me this, do you really want Cedric to marry Potter?”

“Yes.”

“And Potter? What does he want?”

“I don’t care what he wants.”

“You’re ready to live this lie? And for how long? What makes you think you won’t shag him again? What’s stopping you from fucking it all up after they’re married?”

“I won’t.”

“How do you know that? How do you know Potter won’t go off and shag someone else?”

“He would never!”

“Why not?”

“Because he loves me!”

Blaise doesn’t say anything, he just stands there looking at Draco with pleading eyes.

“You know what to do, Draco. And I really hope you’ll make the right decision.”

He’s left with the sound of rain and his own words echoing in his head.

_What has Blaise done?_

***

Hermione won’t stop giving him worried looks and if they weren’t in a room full of people, Harry’s sure that she would’ve yelled at him by now.

Thankfully for him, half of their year at Hogwarts is present. The magnificent ballroom is brimming with people, guests of the Malfoys and an overwhelming number of people here for Harry.

It’s a strange mixture of Ministry employees, well-established pureblood families, and twenty four year olds. Drinks have been making the rounds for about an hour now and Harry is safely in the region of ‘blissfully pissed’ at his own engagement party.

“--you even listening?”

He turns to see Ron glaring at him.

“Sorry, what was it?”

“I said, Hermione looks really bothered, has she said anything to you?”

Ignoring his mate’s impatient tone, Harry shakes his head. Taking another sip from his almost empty glass, he asks: “What about?”

“I don’t know, mate, that’s why I’m asking you.”

_Oops._

“How much have you had to drink, anyway?”

“Not enough.”

“Wha--”

Ron’s wife interrupts him in the middle of the question and Harry’s not sure if it’s a blessing or a curse. “Harry, can I talk to you for a minute?”

Oh Merlin, she’s done it.

He has no choice but to agree and follow her out of the ballroom.

Just as they’re about to exit through the huge gates, Harry feels a hand clamp down on his arm. He looks up in alarm, ready to hex, only to find Cedric looking at him with resolute eyes.

“Come with me.”

His hand doesn’t let go and he all but drags Harry out of the room.

***

He finds Cedric in the alcove on the second floor.

They’d always come here as children, running away from the house elves who had tall glasses of milk for them to drink.

Cedric’s standing with his back to Draco, looking out of the rectangular window. His broad shoulders and tall frame make him look every inch a Malfoy and Draco feels another jolt wrack through his weak body.

He tries to silently breathe through the lump in his throat, more so the tears streaming down his face, but it’s a ghastly sound that comes out. Cedric whips around at the sound, “Draco?”

Lifting a hand to stop Cedric from coming any closer, he falls to his knees.

“Draco, what’s--”

“Stop. Please.”

“But you--”

His voice shakes over every single letter when he begs, “Please.”

Cedric looks like he’s going to kneel down too, but then a second of staring at Draco and he leans against the wall behind him instead. With concern brimming in his eyes, he watches as his little brother kneels in front of him: a picture of remorse.

“I don’t deserve forgiveness.”

Through the sobs, he begs anyway.

“Draco, just tell me.”

“Harry, I--I’ve fallen for him. I love him.”

“And does he?”

Looking up through the unshed tears, he finds Cedric staring down at him. He wipes his eyes with the back of his sleeve and there’s Cedric, clear as day, looking at his little brother with a determined face.

Draco can’t bring himself to answer. He just bows his head and stares at the floor, waiting for Cedric to break the silence.

“Look at me.”

As much as he doesn’t want to, he owes Cedric this at least. Taking in a deep breath, he tries to hold himself together.

“Does he love you, Draco?”

“We--we slept together. Twice. I didn’t--I tried to stay away, Cedric. I tried but I just--I couldn’t. And then I fucking fell for him. And it’s been hell these last few weeks, lying to you and pretending. I just--I can’t do this to him. He wanted to tell you. But I--I am so sorry. So, so sorry..”

When he looks up, Cedric is much closer. And he’s looking right through Draco with his gaze.

“What were you about to do?”

“I can’t--I couldn’t hurt you, Cedric. I know I’ve already done it but I just couldn’t. Not after everything you’ve done for me.”

“Done for you?”

He looks surprised, like he can’t think of a single thing he has done for Draco.

“You’ve always protected me, always been by my side. Cedric, you’ve always taken care of me--”

“Shouldn’t I have?”

“I just--”

“I am your brother, it’s my duty to take care of you. Are you saying this because I’m adopte--”

“No! No, no. I have never thought that. Cedric, you have to know that.”

“I do, so why are you making it sound like I did something more than an older brother should?”

“I wouldn’t even be alive if not for you--”

“What? Draco, that’s not true.”

“It is, and I owe you everything.”

“Is that why you were about to ruin all our lives?”

“I thought you’d want--”

“Would want someone who doesn’t love me?”

“He does, he reall--”

“No, he doesn’t. If he loved me, he wouldn’t have slept with you. And if he didn’t love you, he’d have broken this off ages ago.”

“But you love him, Cedric. You said you were happy--”

“Is that why you’ve done this? Made a mess of yourself? And he’s been drinking non-stop, as if I wouldn’t notice!”

“You knew?”

“That you two were shagging? No. But I did know something was wrong and I’d hoped that either you or he would tell me sooner. Then, when you didn’t, I’d started hoping that it really was work.”

“I’m so sorry, I was a selfish prick. I should--”

“Yes, you were. You both were, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to let you ruin all of our lives.”

“What will you do?”

“I’ll go away on holiday; Scotland, I think. But before that, I’ve got a wreck to sort.”

“Cedri--”

“Get off your knees and wipe your face, Draco. I can’t believe I’m about to do this instead of a Slytherin or a Gryffindor!”

“But--”

“You will follow me, little brother. I’ll do the talking now.”

***

“Erm, Cedric what--Draco?”

“Right, I have one question, Harry. Are you out of your bloody mind?”

“W--what?”

“This one has just told me what you were about to do! Are you fucking mental, the pair of you?”

“Well, I--sorry.”

“That’s the best you’ve got? He asked you to marry someone you don’t love and you were going to, and the best you’ve got is ‘sorry’?”

“Cedric, I--it just. Mother of Merlin! I don’t know what to say. I am sorry, though. For hurting you and for--”

“I’m not in the right state of mind to get into this, I hope you’ll understand that. I’m going to take some time away from here and hopefully, when I get back, we’ll able to talk about this but right now, I just want you both to stop being idiots.”

“What about the party?”

“I’ll talk to father and mother. I’m sure they wouldn’t take your presence very well, Harry. And Draco, you need to go home. I can’t look at you like this.”

“I’m sorry, I am so so sorr--”

“I know. I really can’t do this now. Just go. Please. Harry, get him home.”

***

Harry has apparated them both to Number 12 Grimmauld Place. Draco hasn’t said a single word since Cedric sent them away, he’s been quiet ever since. His eyes are shifting so quickly, never settling on anything for more than a moment until Harry lifts a hesitant hand to his cheek. Then, those stormy eyes settle on his face and everything in the world falls perfectly into place.

Harry reaches down and toys with Draco’s fingers, gives him a chance to pull back if he wants but he doesn’t so Harry twines their fingers together. Gives them both a moment to get used to this feeling of grounding each other before pulling on Draco’s hand and moving him toward the sofa. He’s sat down without a word, as if he really isn’t present here.

Harry goes to fill a glass of water and brings it to him. He has to hold the glass in front of Draco for a moment before his eyes settle on the glass and he takes it with an almost trembling hand.

He sits down beside him on the sofa, hand tracing a light pattern on Draco’s back that he hopes is soothing. Watching him out of the corner of his eye, tracking every moment of his fingers around the glass, his throat working to swallow the water and then his hand still shaking as he places the empty glass back on the table, he stops his hand at the nape of that pale neck.

“Draco?”

Gray eyes look up from the floor and find his, there are unshed tears there and Harry can’t help but rush forward and pull Draco to himself.

“It’s okay, we’ll be alright.”

In the silence of the house, the only sound is of them breathing. Draco holds onto him with desperate hands and a heaving chest against his so Harry reassures him with soft words, “I’ve got you, love. I’ve got you.”

He lets Draco hold onto him for a while, can feel wetness seeping into his shirt at the shoulder where Draco’s face is resting and he wants to make it better by snapping his fingers but he knows it isn’t that easy. Knows that Draco has just broken his brother's heart and the pain is probably going to stay for a while.

So he stays where he is, ignores the tingling in his legs where they’ve fallen asleep. Then, when Draco’s body sags into his, he scoops Draco further into his arm and gets up off the sofa to carry him up the stairs and to his bedroom.

Draco shifts in his arms, makes an inquisitive noise and Harry can’t help but chuckle at the way he’s clinging to Harry like a child. And just like a petulant child, he grips his legs tighter around Harry’s waist and mumbles something.

“What’d you say?”

“I said you’re moving slowly for an auror.”

“Oh, am I?” he threatens to let go of Draco who squeaks and clings to him with a yelped, “Potter!”

“I got you, Malfoy. And I’m never letting go.”

He doesn’t get a response for that, instead Draco nestles his face into his neck and hums like this is something they can definitely work on.

That’s enough for Harry.

***

It’s light outside in the way that it gets minutes before sunrise, when the world isn’t really awake just yet but will be soon. It’s always been a very surreal time for Harry, always the hours between night and day that make him feel like anything’s possible.

And today, when he’s got Draco curled up in his arms with bed sheets strewn on the bed around them as the room is bathed in a soft orange glow, Harry feels invincible.

Not wanting to disturb the sleeping form beside him, he moves as stealthily as he can to settle his head on his elbow to look at Draco. To really look at his face relaxed in sleep looking ten years younger than he does when he’s awake. To look at those long eyelashes fluttering with his dreams and that mouth parted around soft breaths. To look at--“Will you stop staring?”

He startles and his head slips off his elbow at the quick words even as Draco’s eyes are still closed and he looks asleep except for the little line between his eyebrows. He reaches out with a finger and tries to smooth it but all he gets is gray eyes snapping open and looking at him.

He sees something in those eyes he hasn’t seen for quite some time and it takes his breath away.

Gods, this man—this incredible man has made him short of breath and panting with just one look. Merlin, what’s he gotten himself into?

He can’t bring himself to speak so he just raises his eyebrows in question hoping Draco will understand. If he’s waiting to hear something back, he’s disappointed because all Draco does is bite on his lower lip before pulling it into his mouth and Harry dies a little bit. He dashes forward and brushes his lips against Draco’s, bites on that lip in Draco’s mouth and pulls it out and into his own mouth.

He’s rewarded with a low moan and in their previous encounters this would’ve meant clothes being ripped off and claiming bites and scratches slowly blooming on both their bodies but this is different. This is so different that Harry doesn’t want to push, he wants to take his time. Draco seems to agree because his hands come up around him as he slowly manoeuvres Harry on top of him just as he opens his legs so Harry’ll settle right between them.

His hands are slow as they trace along Harry’s back in the same rhythm as his lips take Harry apart with every stroke of his tongue and every soft bite and gentle pressing of lips to sensitive skin. By the time he stops kissing Harry, he can feel his lips swollen and his cock nestled against Draco’s through the layers of their pajamas and they move against each other lazily.

And that’s the moment that Harry knows what he wants.

Draco tries to reach down and prepare himself but Harry stops him with a hand on his wrist and purposefully grinds down into Draco’s hardness. They both groan at the same time, moving a little more frantically than before but it isn’t until Harry moves up a little and settles with Draco’s cock right against his arse that the git gets the message.

“Harry--“

“I want you. I want to feel you.”

Gray eyes widen at the words, hands gripping around flesh to leave bruises and hips moving and thrusting of their own volition.

“I’ve never done this before.” There’s genuine fear in his words, hesitation clear in his features even as his hands move over Harry’s skin possessively and his thighs tighten around Harry as he deliberately moves against him.

Harry’s voice is a little breathless when he says: “Then, I’ll be the first.”

“I’m scared, I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You won’t. I know you won’t, just let me. Please.”

He nods, sharp teeth biting down mercilessly on his lip and his eyes darkening as he watches Harry scrambling across the bed to push off his pajamas and Draco’s. Those eyes follow him as he reaches back and takes Draco in hand, stroking lightly and watching the body beneath him trembling with pleasure—“Harry, stop.”

Chuckling, he lets go and casts a wandless spell on himself, feeling wetness on his most sensitive spot just as he reaches back with one finger. Draco watches as he slowly breaches himself, finger angling in and stopping to give himself a moment to get used to the feeling. Their eyes get stuck on each other, breaths on each other’s mouths as he slowly pushes in and pulls out.

Draco’s mouth is open as he tracks every movement just as breathlessly, eyes flicking back and forth between Harry’s eyes and his fingers moving in and out. He looks like he’s in a trance and that’s even hotter than the feeling of loosening himself up. Harry’s so closing to just breaking, with the way Draco’s watching so intently, cataloguing and then he cries out when he feels Draco’s fingers right there, next to his touching him in that spot and getting wet and pushing in along with his and stretching him open.

He can’t take anymore, he can’t hold himself back if he has to feel Draco’s fingers pushing into him alongside his own and stretching him as his eyes are fixed on Harry’s face committing every moment to memory.

“Dr—Draco!”

The git just smiles, wiggling his fingers—Merlin, his fingers that are inside Harry—Gods, he’s going to—and then they’re gone. He’s pulled out his fingers and Harry’s and he’s pulling Harry down for a kiss, a maddening kiss that’s more tongue than anything and he’s so wet everywhere it’s absolute bliss.

Somehow, he tears himself away from it and reaches back to line himself with Draco’s obscenely leaking cock and pushes down leaving them both groaning so loudly that he’s half expecting Kreacher to barge in. Thankfully, the elf doesn’t show his face because that’d definitely kill the mood when they’re both already teetering off the edge and just barely hanging on as Harry pushes himself back on the thick length and feels himself stretching oh so tightly around Draco.

“Har—ah!”

Gods, it’s so bloody intoxicating to watch Draco beneath him, losing his words and his mind as he moans and writhes like he’s the one being split open with a throbbing dick. Harry will take it as a compliment and as a way to show his gratitude, he’ll twist his hips just so and—“Harry, fuck! Oh fuck—Circe!”

He smiles down at the git, smirks really and the moment Draco catches on, his hands come up around his hips with bruising fingers and he thrusts up and—“oh! Shit, ah---”

It goes like that from then on, they’re slow and gentle for the most part, Harry’s moving up and down Draco’s length almost torturously slow and the only sounds other than those of the flesh are panting breaths between their mouths but then he’ll move his hips just so and then Draco will hold him steady and fuck up into him and then they’re both moaning and cursing till they slow down again.

“Oh, you’re so beautiful”, he murmurs into Draco’s neck and hiccups the moment Draco thrusts up without a warning and holds him there for a moment, just this side of painful and Harry can feel his eyes burning with tears and frustration with just how badly he wants to come.

It only takes one small movement, the way Draco’s left hand trails down from his hip to his arse before fingers slip down and touch wet and stretched skin where Draco’s cock is moving inside him and Harry comes with a yell he’s sure the whole street hears.

Draco’s still moving inside him, his fingers still stroking the stretched skin and his thrusts getting deeper and Harry wants to make him come so badly, he wants—he clenches around him and reaches back at the same time, twining his fingers with Draco just as he feels the man still and wetness pools in him, filling him from the inside---“Ah! Ohhh--oh fuck!”

Harry looks down at Draco, his eyes snapped shut as he rides out his high and slowly slips out of Harry. He can feel it running down his thigh, and he brings Draco’s hands to the wetness because he remembers how good it’d felt when he had reached down and felt Draco’s wet thighs the first time they’d done this.

Merlin, he’s so close to dying right now as he feels Draco’s fingers tracing patterns on his thigh, rubbing the wetness into his skin and his eyes are now lazily looking up at Harry. He has never, in his life, felt more at home than right now.

***  
_Merlin_

The feeling of Draco next to him, his warm skin under Harry’s hands and his stuttering breaths against his face, oh Merlin, he can’t. He can’t not lose his breath when they’re like this, can’t not close his eyes and memorize every single sensation in this moment.

Draco moves under him, his hand moving to Harry’s back and fingers slowly tracing the knobs of his spine and how can Harry ever live without this. He can’t.

“Draco…”

The fingers still just for a second, on that one knob of his spine and he turns his head to look down at Harry where he’s resting with his chin on that pale chest: “Hmm?”

Harry’s so lost in those gray eyes, finally on him and not stealing away, gods he’s been waiting so long to have them looking at him again. A gentle questioning nod from Draco reminds him that he was about to say something.

“I love you.”

His eyes widen at the words, eyelashes fluttering shut and Harry just can’t believe that he’s allowed to see something so beautiful. That he’s allowed to reach out and touch but he won’t do anything to break this moment. He bites his lip and watches as Draco’s eyes open slowly and he looks right through Harry. A smile makes its way onto his lips then and he darts forward to place a kiss on Harry’s nose.

“I love you.”

His heart almost gives out at the sheer joy those words bring him. And the honesty in Draco’s eyes, the pure abandonment in the way he’s looking at Harry without another word. He knows this isn’t easy for Draco, knows this isn’t how he handles emotions and feelings. Knows that Draco would much rather hide behind masks and walls and never admit to something like this.

But he has, he has just said something that Harry never dreamed of hearing from someone in this lifetime. Not someone whose single touch can set him alight and whose eyes on him make him feel like he’s won everything there is to win in life.

“I feel like the Chosen One for like the first time in my life.”

“Can you not be such a sap, Potter?”

“Well, you’re stuck with me for good now so you better get used to it.”

“I knew this was a mistake.”

“Too late. Come here!” Draco squeals as Harry tightens his arms around him and pushes his face into that pale neck that’s kept him up countless nights.

“Get off me, you heathen!”

***

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, how was that? I hope it didn't disappoint.
> 
> Thanks to a comment, I remembered that I forgot to put a very important note for this chapter. So this started with two chapters of PWP and I was going to leave it there. Then, I watched this bollywood film with a friend and there were bits in this film, the angst - oh so sweet - and I thought Imma write this. More than anything, I could see Harry breaking and putting himself together like the male lead in this film. And Draco, oh my love. I wanted to see if Draco Malfoy could be selfless. So selfless that he'll break himself for someone else. And then I realised this fic was left with a open ending so I came back to it. Point is, things in this might be familiar to you if you've seen this film but hopefully I've done a good enough job that you can see this as a different entity and these characters as real.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, I think I write awkward smut but feel free to tell me otherwise.


End file.
